Injuries bugging Cardinals

Jupiter, Fla.  The St. Louis Cardinals received mixed news Sunday on their injured outfielders.

Rightfielder Juan Encarnacion remains behind schedule and almost certainly will not be ready for opening day. Encarnacion still feels pinching in his left wrist when he turns on an inside pitch.

Centerfielder Jim Edmonds is on schedule and, barring a setback, should get into a few games the final week of spring training and could be ready for the season.

"We've got two weeks to see how that shakes out," manager Tony La Russa said.

Encarnacion had surgery in early December to repair a split tendon and tighten the sheath on the outside of his right wrist.

"It was our hope originally at this point, that around the 15th he would be taking swings in games," team doctor George Paletta said. "One of the things he feels like he needs to do is to hit the ball off the machine and really work repetitively on that inside pitch."

The remaining soreness is the result of scar tissue, Paletta said.

Edmonds had shoulder surgery in November and toe surgery in January. He is taking fly balls, hitting off the coaches and working on his conditioning.

"He's had a couple of days where he gets a little achy and we back off a bit, but overall he's progressing pretty well," Paletta said. "The timetable for him was to have him taking some game at- bats the last week, and assuming this next week goes well and he continues to progress I still think that's a reasonable target."